NFL officials botch more than one call in Redskins' loss to Eagles

The Washington Redskins should have done more and they might have had a chance against the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday at FedEx Field. The 30-17 loss was due to several reasons, most of which was the offense not moving the ball and some bad decisions by quarterback Kirk Cousins. But there were at least two calls NFL officials botched so badly that it directly impacted the game.

The more blatant of the two was one in the fourth quarter with 1:29 left on the clock. The Redskins were driving down the field looking for a touchdown to overcome the Eagles’ 22-17 lead.

On second-and-short at the 35-yard line, Cousins dropped back and once again came under pressure — as he had many times already — from Philadelphia defensive tackle Fletcher Cox and other Eagles defenders. As Cousins went to throw the ball, he was hit and the ball came loose. Cox recovered it and lumbered down the field for a touchdown.

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The question on this play is whether Cousins’ arm was in forward motion and he therefore threw an incomplete pass. The officials immediately ruled the play a fumble, but the call went into review.

Replay after the replay was shown on the Jumbotron and TVs, and it seemed clear it should have been ruled an incomplete pass. But the referee’s call stood that the ball was out of Cousins’ hand before his hand began moving forward, and the Eagles got the score.

The other questionable call occurred late in the third quarter on second-and-nine. Cousins threw a pass to WR Terrelle Pryor, who was in the endzone. The wideout had his hands in the air about to catch the ball when Eagles cornerback Jalen Mills bumped him hard with his hands over Pryor’s chest and neck, knocking him out from under the ball, where it fell incomplete. As they fell to the ground, one could still see Mills’ hand on the wideout’s shoulder.

It should have been called as pass interference, and Cousins motioned angrily to the refs to no avail. Even though Mills was looking at the ball, which is supposed to be part of the protocol for decisions, it appears he knew where his hand was.